OSU women's basketball: Beavers fend off Cal down the stretch

BERKELEY, Calif. — Oregon State’s game Sunday against California was all about putting a disappointing loss Friday night at Stanford in the rearview mirror and remembering who the Beavers are and what they do.

It took a while to shake off the cobwebs from the 61-44 setback against the Cardinal but once that happened, the No. 7 Beavers began to fire on all cylinders.

Big runs at the end of the second and third quarters changed the game and helped the Beavers hold off California 82-74 for a crucial Pac-12 women’s basketball win at Haas Pavilion.

"I was proud of our team for being resilient, shaking off a little bit of doubt that creeps in after each loss," coach Scott Rueck said. "There's really no way around that, and they worked through that and then they played with so much grit and toughness. Destiny did her thing but we had great performances across the board."

Added redshirt sophomore Destiny Slocum: “It was a great team win, and especially a great bounce-back from what happened on Friday. Long journey ahead of us, these are great wins that we need to pull out.”

Slocum finished with 26 points, four assists and four rebounds; Aleah Goodman added 17 points, five assists and two rebounds; and Mikayla Pivec had 16 points and eight rebounds.

It was the fourth straight game that Slocum has scored 20 or more points.

Goodman bounced back from an 0-for-7 shooting performance against Stanford with a 5-for-10 game and was 5 for 5 from the free-throw line.

“I struggle with kind of just putting it behind me but I knew for my team I had to and get over that and just come out today and totally forget about the game at Stanford, forget about those shots and just move forward,” Goodman said.

In addition to the stars, Patricia Morris came off the bench when Joanna Grymek left for a short while with an injury and matched her career high with seven points in just over six minutes.

“I think that’s what makes our team so good, we’re so versatile and there’s so many options," Slocum said. "Once one person goes down or isn’t having a game that maybe they thought they would, we always have someone come in who can pick up the pieces. I think that’s what we do a good job of just being ready when our number’s called.

Kristine Anigwe scored 31 points and added 18 rebounds for yet another double-double, her 23rd of the season and 24th straight dating back to last season.

The Beavers earned their 20th win of the season, the sixth straight season and the seventh time in nine season under Scott Rueck.

Oregon State (20-4, 10-2) is alone in second place and will face No. 3 Oregon (23-1, 12-0) back to back beginning at 6 p.m. Friday in Eugene. The Ducks routed No. 11 Stanford 84-44 on Sunday.

“It’s going to be a huge week for us in preparing but we’re really excited for the Civil War,” Goodman said.

A 13-3 run at the end of the third quarter gave the Beavers some breathing room with a 59-51 edge.

But the Bears caught fire from beyond the 3-point line the first half of the final period. Cal hit five of its first six tries from deep, and Thomas’ fifth of the game and third of the period, cut the Beavers’ lead to 72-70 with 4:16 left.

But OSU was able to limit the Bears to two Anigwe free throws and an Anigwe bucket while finishing strong offensively to pull away for the win.

The Beavers fell behind by 11 in the second quarter but an 11-2 run to close out the half cut their deficit to 37-35.

Taya Corosdale then gave the Beavers their first lead since they were up 13-10 with a 3-pointer to open the third quarter for a 38-37 lead.

The game went back and forth for most of the third before the Beavers closed on a 13-3 run to take a 59-51 lead into the final 10 minutes.

Pivec had 12 of the Beavers' 24 points while Goodman had six.

Cal was just 4 for 14 in the quarter with Anigwe scoring eight points.

Cal scored the first five points of the game but the Beavers responded with nine in a row for the 9-5 lead.

However, the Bears, behind four 3-pointers, took a 20-15 lead into the second quarter. Brown hit three of the 3s for the early edge.

The Beavers were just 6 for 16 from the floor and only 1 for 5 from beyond the arc.

The Bears took a 35-24 lead on an Anigwe free throw with 4:47 left in the half but the Beavers responded with the 11-2 run to get within 37-35 at the break. Goodman had five points, Slocum four and Grymek the final two.

The Beavers were 9 for 16 from the field in the second quarter and held Cal scoreless from beyond the arc to help close the gap. The Bears were 7 for 16 but finished the quarter 1 for 8 from the field.

Oregon State had eight players score in the half, with Slocum leading the way with 13.

Anigwe had 17 points and nine rebounds to lead Cal.

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